Police call on landlords to tackle drug farms

Private landlords have been invited by police chiefs to help them crack down on tenants using rental properties as drug farms.

Derbyshire police officials think they can best tackle this type of drug trade by working alongside rented accommodation owners.

According to Tessa Shepperson, an expert in landlord law, in an article at lawpack.co.uk, the best way for private landlords to tackle such problematic tenants is to take steps to avoid taking them on in the first place.

Good credit and reference checks and picking tenants with good employment histories are likely to help landlords avoid getting themselves into difficult situations, she noted.

Rented properties featured among the majority of 52 cannabis farms found in Derbyshire between April and December last year, police said.

"The methods used to grow the plants not only cause damage to the properties concerned, but have a significant risk of causing serious fires, which may spread to neighbouring houses,"commented chief inspector Sunita Gamblin.